rescued 4 eggs, 1 squab & 2 squeakers

[cobyncory]

i try to rescue unwanted pigeons. today i found 4 eggs from 2 different nest on the roof of a house about to be torn down. how can i tell if the eggs are fertile or how old the eggs are? i love pigeons and i have 10 pigeons and i'm always looking for more. i have a huge pigeon coop with lots of room for more.

[Reti]

Thank you for rescuing the eggs.
You can candle them by holding them in a dark room against a flashlight. If they are fertile you will see a dark dot, which may be bigger or smaller depending on how old they are. Ayou might be able to see little veins.
You can compare it to a regular egg and see the differences.
Do you have hens currently sitting on eggs? If you do, and you know their eggs are not fertile you can switch them with the eggs you found.
If not, and they are fertile, you will have to incubate them.

Reti

[cobyncory]

thank you. reti.
my hen might be laying soon. should i incubate them until she does?

[Birdmom4ever]

Unfortunately it's not that simple. The timing has to be right because pigeons feed their babies pigeon milk for the first 10 days or so, and the milk isn't produced until they've incubated their eggs for 16-18 days. So if you give your pigeons an egg that's ready to hatch and they've only been sitting for a few days, they won't have any pigeon milk to feed it and it will not survive.

You can try to incubate the eggs yourself, but it's difficult to successfully raise a chick from day one.

[cobyncory]

i know that 2 of the eggs are fertile because i can see it moving around in there but i cant tell how much longer before they hatch or if its ok for me to use my egg turner or if they should be on the bottom of the incubator and if they still need turned?

[TAWhatley]

i know that 2 of the eggs are fertile because i can see it moving around in there but i cant tell how much longer before they hatch or if its ok for me to use my egg turner or if they should be on the bottom of the incubator and if they still need turned?

It's hard to say without knowing how far along the eggs are. They should hatch at around 18 days. If they are close to the hatching stage you don't want to turn them and take the chance of putting the baby in a position where it can't pip out.

Hopefully a member with more knowledge of the subject will be along shortly with advice for you.

Terry

[cobyncory]

how can i tell how close they are to hatching?
i candled them and i saw it moving in there and i saw alot of viens and a either a wing , a leg or a head move.
coby

[Pigeonpal2002]

As Terry mentioned, it's hard to know for sure since you don't know how far along they were in the first place. Sometimes, when a chick is getting ready to hatch you will actually see the egg move, and if you listen really closely, you might even hear it peep. Also, look for very tiny fractures in the eggs shell as this could be the start of it pecking a hole.

[cobyncory]

well. no fractures or peeps yet. hopefully in the next couple of days they will.
also i have another question. i have a 3 week old squab and the parents arent feeding him anymore. should i try to introduce seed to him or what.
coby

[Birdmom4ever]

Not even the cock is feeding him? Normally by 3 weeks the hen is involved in a new nest and the cock is doing most, if not all, the feeding. Feeding at this age is just 3 or 4 times a day and the parents don't usually brood the chick at this point. Have you felt the little one's crop to see if there is any seed in it? I would do that first to determine if it is actually being neglected. It's unusual for pigeons to neglect their young unless you have moved the nest or something.

Three weeks is young to start eating on its own, but I've heard of some chicks that did. Sprinkle some grain where the chick can see it and it may begin to pick it up. If it does, makes sure it's actually swallowing the grain and not just picking it up and dropping it. They are clumsy in their first attempts. You will also need to gently dip its beak in water to teach it to drink. If all this doesn't work and the parents are truly neglecting it, then you may have to hand feed it for a week or so. At this age pigeon mix softened for awhile in water would be best.

[cobyncory]

well one of the eggs hatched this morning and the other one should be hatching soon. my little 6 day old died this morning. my heart is broken. i dont know if i can do this again.